


The Nightmare Before Christmas: Or the Time Connie's Zombie Apocalypse Dreams Came True

by firegrilled



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Blood and Gore, Christmas, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Mechanic!Jean, Minor Gore Really, Mutual Pining, Scientist!Marco, Side Eremika, Side Springles, Young Parents, and babies, side eruri, side pairings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-11 14:06:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8983720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firegrilled/pseuds/firegrilled
Summary: When humans suddenly begin attacking each other, Jean is forced to adapt as he navigates his way around a zombie infested holiday hellscape with his best friend Marco's baby sister to try and find him and escape. Through the journey he encounters many friends as he tries to not only get everyone to safety, but also understand why it happened. All while Connie Springer is more than excited his zombie survival plan can be put to some use.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Mrah514](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mrah514/gifts).



“You know, Maria? I never thought picking up this shift for Connie would’ve been this fucking adventurous,” Jean remarked. A loud cracking made him flinch, averting his gaze from the blow he just delivered. The thud provided Jean the cue to finally glance down. His lips fell into a frown as he stepped over the human, pulling his wrench out of its skull.

Rather than reflect on the fact he just caved in someone’s skull, Jean continued on his journey through the mechanic shop. He didn’t know how one of those things got in there but he would keep a sharper eye out for more of them. It wasn’t the first feral human he encountered and it sure as hell wasn’t gonna be the last he’d have to dispose of before this day was over.

A squeal from his backpack brought a brief but fleeting smile back to Jean’s face.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure Santa will bring the best presents when we make it out of here. Although I’m never taking a Christmas Eve shift again. Nothing like _this_ would ever be worth double pay. Pixis can kiss my pale ass next year.” Jean rolled his eyes at the thought. Next he surveyed the deserted mechanic shop for any more of those humans that snuck in while he was gone.

Nothing seemed out of place according to Jean’s memory. Everything was as he left it when he rushed out earlier. A red sedan was still on a stand waiting for a new set of tires, while Jean’s overturned toolkit laid out on the floor. Wrenches laid strewn about, and a rolling tool case pinned another human against a wall. Inside the human’s head was another wrench from Jean’s set. Guilt spread through Jean’s chest as he kept a mental tally of the people he had to fend himself from, including the car owner who’d never be getting his tires.

Once he got past the main shop area, he carefully walked towards the owner’s office. As he passed a mirror, he paused to check himself for wounds. His two toned hair remained splayed all over the place, with bits of pink and white in it. Grease covered the side of his face but there were no open wounds thankfully. He nodded to himself as another squeal reminded him he really was on borrowed time.

At the office he gripped the knob and shook it, slightly relieved it was locked. He let his blood spattered wrench fall with a loud clang as he pulled a rag off his belt loop to wipe his hands. Now clean, he reached into his pocket for the keys and found Dot Pixis’ unmistakable office key. He was the only boss that would bejewel a silver key to pretend it was fancy.

The door creaked open and Jean flipped the switch, eternally thankful when the light came on.

“At least we have that.”

Jean kicked the wrench into the office as he stepped in, careful to quietly shut the door behind him and lock it.

Pixis’ desk sat next to the wall with a giant framed picture of himself hugging his three employees: Jean, Connie, and Eren. Jean set his backpack down on the chair on his way towards the mini-fridge. He opened the little container to empty it of its contents. Inside he found a few bottles of water as well as Pixis’ little beer collection they would crack open at the end of a long work week. Jean stopped himself from grabbing a can as he shut the door.

“After this is all over. When you make it out,” Jean told himself, ignoring the voice in the back of his head. _“If you even make it out of this alive.”_

Dropping the bottles off on top of the owner’s desk, Jean began scouring it for anything he could use to defend themselves. Initially all he could find were useless documents about running the shop. His hand brushed against cold metal, sending relief flooding through his body. He pulled out their only firearm in the business from behind a glass of expensive bourbon.

Quick to check it out, Jean frowned when he noticed the chamber and magazine had no bullets. Another quick search of the desk proved fruitless. “Where oh where did you hide the ammo?”

As Jean glanced around the office some more, his eyes stopped at the picture hanging over the desk. He grinned as he recalled his boss’ poorest kept secret. Grabbing the gaudy frame, Jean removed it from the wall to find a wall safe with a sticky note attached.

**Birth Day, Beer Pack Size, and Best Bust Size**

Jean sighed as he began the process of undoing the lock. At least the combination was something all the veteran employees could know. “You have a one track mind, Pixis.”

Relief washed over his body one more time when he found a box with ammunition inside the safe along with stacks of money. Grabbing the most important thing first, Jean took the box and then some of the cash back to the desk. He returned to the chair to grab the backpack, gently lifting it up.

He opened it up to find a pair of big brown eyes staring back at him.

“Sorry about that Maria, had to get some supplies.” The baby girl merely turned her head as Jean slowly picked her up and plopped he on a stack of papers. She laughed a bit as he reached into his backpack for a bottle. “Here.”

Jean scooped her up and slowly brought the bottle to her mouth as Marco had showed him many times before. Following the instructions from memory as best he could, Jean patiently waited until she seemed content with her meal. He felt around the backpack with one hand until he found the pacifier and brought it up for her. She gladly began sucking on it as he placed her back in the safety of the bag. Using the outside pockets he stuff all but one bottle of water in there. He reloaded the gun and stuffed it in his coat pocket.

Doing one last visual check, Jean grabbed everything he could and put on his backpack. Just as he threaded his rag through a belt loop, a crash sound came from within the shop. His eyes darted at the wrench on the floor and he swiftly retrieved it.

Cautiously he cracked the door to see what had made a racket. It didn’t take long to find someone in a red Santa outfit lurking around, stumbling on overturned equipment. Jean checked for anyone else before stepping out. His knuckles turned white from the pressure he exerted on his wrench as he circled the growling Santa. In hindsight he should’ve left his backpack with baby Maria in the office but he wasn’t gonna risk something happening to her or Marco would kill him. If Marco was…

“Bad thoughts,” Jean chastised himself. His best friend was fine, he was sure of it.

He froze when the Santa swung around and met his gaze, attracted to the words just spoken. That at least confirmed Jean’s suspicions. “Well, there goes the gun.”

A loud growl bellowed through the shop, echoing of the concrete walls and floor, as Santa charged at Jean. Using his foolproof tactic from before, Jean waited until he saw the deathly yellow of Santa’s eyes to sidestep the mindless creature. With it off balance Jean used his opportunity to swing his wrench into the back of its head. Santa fell to the ground with another thud. As Jean tried to pull the wrench back out, he felt resistance as it got stuck on something.

More groans got his attention as he turned to find a giant hole in the wall that wasn’t there when he entered earlier.

“The fuck? How did you break through a solid concrete wall?!” Jean shouted at Santa.

With a sudden rise in growls, Jean wasted no time in bolting through the shop to get back to his escape vehicle. On his way through, he grabbed a wrench one size smaller than the one he left in Santa. He made his way through the side employee door, not willing to lock it as he ran straight to a motorcycle. He was quick to shove the helmet over his head and he roared the engine to life. More feral humans poured from the door he just exited just as he sped towards the road.

Luck seemed to favor him as the traffic remained minimal during his escape. There were a few abandoned cars alongside the road but the town he dared to call home after college, Jinae, was by far a rural town with a military base nearby. That made his trek towards his friend’s house much easier. If he was going to break into that base to find his best friend Marco, he’d need support from the one person who was ridiculous enough to plan for this kind of apocalypse. And he really hated to think it finally happened.

Connie really would never let him live this opportunity down.

\---

“Pick up that phone because I fucking called it!” Connie exclaimed from an armchair, nearly tossing his Xbox controller out of his grasp.

“Don’t you fucking say it,” Jean warned his good friend and coworker.

“Why not? It finally happened! I was right,” Connie said, slightly miffed at his joy being ruined.

“Because those are humans. They aren’t undead,” Jean crossed his arms.

A lively squeal caused Jean to jump, almost missing another pair of steps entering the room.

“Language, boys. I won’t have my daughter growing up to have such a potty mouth,” Sasha scolded Jean and Connie. Both boys shrunk in on themselves.

“Looks, even the news is saying it.” Connie flipped the channel to the national news station showing pictures of the town in smoke and flames. _Their town._

“Experts have no idea what lead to this attack but zombies have overtaken the city of Jinae. There is no response from anyone in the town as the cell towers have been taken down but a complete information blackout is impossible as newsfeeds have already been confirmed by numerous outlets. The walls to the city that once served as medieval protection have been shut and are keeping all residents inside. No sign or news of survivors has been found due to thick smoke blanketing the sky. Such unfortunate news as tonight was supposed to be the scheduled lighting of the tree on the military base, a national tradition shown everywhere this time of year.”

“Please turn it off. They don’t know shit,” Sasha shook her head. The baby dressed in pink in her arms nuzzled her breast as she dozed off.

“Sasha, language!” Connie corrected his wife. She quickly sealed her lips.

“Sina is gonna have a potty mouth whether you like it or not,” Jean laughed. “The question is which curse word will be her first. I got five bucks riding on shit.”

“Please,” Connie replied. “It’s gonna be fuck.”

“Both of you don’t encourage this behavior. Her first words will be mama otherwise both of you will be so far in the doghouse Scooby will be charging rent.”

“Where is he anyways?” Jean looked around for the house pet.

“Dunno, ran off after a chicken probably,” Connie shrugged.

“You tell me your wife does all the child rearing and the farming? Sasha doesn’t deserve you,” Jean shook his head.

Connie let out an offended squawk as Sasha chuckled. She walked into the living room and placed the baby in her crib.

“He does some work, otherwise I wouldn’t have sealed the deal. He’s great at mowing the land. Perks of being in the country is all this greenspace and maintaining it,” Sasha informed Jean.

“And keeps us safe from the zombies!” Connie chimed in as he pushed himself off the couch. “Finally can put Sasha’s gun stash to work to. We’re prepared for just about anything. Panic room and all.”

“He paid for that himself,” Sasha said as she rolled her eyes.

“You’re the one that entertains him.” Jean reminded her. “At least it’s finally come to pay off in spades. Speaking of which that’s why I came here. I need some firepower.”

“Why would you want to leave here? We can ride this out here,” Connie dropped all pretense of silliness and shot Jean a serious look.

“I gotta go back for Marco,” Jean explained.

“Marco? Isn’t he on the base? I’m sure they’re safe there,” Connie spoke. “Besides, why risk it?”

“Honey, you know why,” Sasha gave a gentle smile as she took a seat on the couch near Jean’s discarded backpack. “You can use whatever guns you need. We have more than enough to survive this.”

“Dude, really?” Connie’s mouth hung agape.

“Thanks, Sasha. Do any come with silencers? All I have is this one but sounds attract them,” Jean asked, completely ignoring his friend.

“Dude. Dude. DUDE!” Connie rubbed his temples. “You _still_ haven’t told him how you feel? It’s been all year since you promised to do it! You’re breaking your only New Year’s resolution.”

“I’m more amazed Marco hasn’t figured it out yet. You roomed together for like three years in college…”

“Four.” Connie corrected.

“And then you followed him to his hometown as he completes his residency at the military hospital. You even picked up that terrible mechanic job. You’re a mechanical engineer!”

“I know but he thinks I’m just waiting to get a position on base,” Jean sighed.

“Bro…” Connie offered a sympathetic pat on his shoulder.

As Connie seemingly consoled his friend, a cry from the backpack startled Sasha. She jumped out of her seat and ran behind Connie.

“What the hell was that?” She demanded to know.

“Oh yeah,” Jean blushed as he went to his backpack. He retrieved Maria and started cradling her back and forth in his arms in a vain attempt to calm her. “This is Maria.”

“You’re a father?!” Both of his friends exclaimed.

“What? No. This is Marco’s baby sister. His mom died when she was born so that’s why he started working back here. I went to his place to find him but only she was alive. So I grabbed her and what formulas she had before heading back to the shop to grab what I could and came here.”

“Oh my God…” Connie shook his head as Sasha walked over. She gently removed Maria to calm her better than Jean was doing. “You’ve really got it bad.”

“We both know that’s always been the case,” Jean concurred.

“What about her dad?” Sasha asked.

Jean averted her gaze and stared at the floor. “He… didn’t make it. Marco is all she has.”

“Marco and you.” Connie corrected him again.

Jean smiled as Sasha walked off. She returned a few minutes later with Maria in a sling around her chest and a pitcher of water. “Here, rest up before you go. Fresh from the well.”

“You two and your self subsisting ways,” Jean commented as he enjoyed ice cold water.

“I’ll go fetch the guns, ammo, and the walkie talkies. If this is as bad as I fear we may need to find a way to evacuate.”

Both guys nodded as Sasha excused herself once more.

“Want us to watch Maria? She’ll be safer here with us,” Connie offered.

“What?! But-“ Jean’s eyes widened at the thought.

“Hear me out. You need to save Marco but bringing that baby into the thick of it with zombies and God knows what else around is a shitty idea. You got the walkie so you can contact us or we’ll tell you if we go on the move. We got one of our own to watch out for too so don’t worry.”

The dropping of guns on the table snapped Jean and Connie out of their short conversation.

“Jean, he’s right. We’ll watch her and take care of her. Plus guns around babies are a bad idea if you don’t know how to take care of them like we do. Go in, get Marco, radio us, and then we’ll figure out the next step. We should be safe from any zombies at least for a little out here. It’s one less thing to fear.”

“Plus a crying baby in a crowd of zombies? That’s like a death wish for both of you.”

“Yes ma’am.” Jean gave in. It’d be more than selfish of him to bring Maria with him into zombie infested territory. If the zombies didn’t kill him then Marco would.

As Connie joined them to start preparing Jean for his journey back, Sasha looked Jean dead in the eye.

“Oh and Jean? If your last name isn’t Kirschtein-Bodt by the end of next year, I will charge you for each and every one of these firearms that you lose in this city.”

“B-b-but I don’t even know if he’s gay.”

“Pease, we all know which way he swings,” Sasha winked, leaving Jean a shade of pink darker. “And it’s towards you after one bottle of Jack. Now go get him.”

\---

Zooming through the countryside back to the city proved to be more haunting than reassuring. Thick black smoke blocked the winter sun; serving as a grim reminder of the fate of the town. Luckily for Jean he only needed to bypass the town to get into the base. He was already armed to the teeth with guns and ammo. Three handguns in various pockets plus an assault rifle strapped around his chest made him feel like an action hero. And if possible to avoid firearms he had a hunting knife sheathed in a belt loop and his wrench inside his coat pocket.

As he zigzagged through the various abandoned cars, the familiar groans chilled Jean to his bones. Maybe the feral people were undead.

Panicked human shouts could be heard further up the road near the town but that was well off course for him. He only needed to go left at the upcoming fork and he’d have a straight shot down country roads to get to the Survey Corp base that employed most of the rural town.

Where Jean expected the turn to be, instead he was greeted by a flaming car pile-up. He swerved his bike to bring it to a stop just a few feet from the fiery wreckage. He carefully wheeled his motorcycle back to get it repositioned around the obstacle.

“Fuck, hang on!” a masculine shout could be heard further up the road.

Jean froze as his memory tried to process the all too familiar voice.

“No, gotta get to Marco. Whoever he is he’ll be fine,” Jean tried to reassure himself yet his body refused to move.

More feral growls roared around him and another yell struck a chord inside him.

“Mikasa, careful!” another less masculine voice said.

“Oh come the fuck on,” Jean complained as his brain identified the voices. He pushed his bike back a few more feet and revved his engine.

The bike sped of around the car wreckage, missing the turn for the military base, and headed straight ahead. He only needed to get another few hundred feet up the road to find the trio he feared would be in trouble. On a rather damaged jeep, Jean saw his other coworker and his friends slowly getting surrounded by zombies.

Eren stood outside the jeep with a handgun taking relatively good headshots on the zombies coming towards them, while Armin stood inside the jeep shooting out the other side and missing just about every shot. Jean noticed the blond boy clutching his gut.

 _“How the fuck is Jaeger on his feet?”_ Jean thought as he reached for one of the handguns in his jacket. The third occupant of the jeep, Mikasa, sat in there with anguish written on her face. She stared right at him as his bike sped towards them.

His bike skid to a stop as he unsheathed the knife from his belt loop. Leaving his helmet on, he bolted for one of the zombies. Without it even realizing he was there, Jean grabbed it by its hair and stabbed its head from behind. He walked from zombie to zombie doing this as Eren continued to mow down those in front of Jean. When more panicked shouting came from the other side of the jeep, Eren spun around and began helping Armin clear his side.

“Behind you,” Mikasa pointed at Jean.

He turned around to find two more adult zombies charging at him. Rather than run, he held his ground.

He gripped his knife as he waited for the two zombies to reach him. As the first one got within arm’s reach, Jean plunged the knife into its heart. The force the impact diverted the zombie around Jean. The next zombie tried to grab for Jean, but he was faster and he head-butted the creature. It fell to the ground while Jean regained his sense of balance. Noticing the one on the ground he sent his foot straight into its face with a crunch as the other zombie stumbled back towards him. Jean reached into his jacket to get the wrench and swiftly smacked the zombie upside its head, ending the miserable thing’s existence.

With more shaking than he cared to admit, Jean pulled his foot out of the other zombie’s head. Bits of skull and blood splashed out of its head. He retrieved his knife and sheathed it once he was sure the other side of the jeep had been cleared.

As the commotion calmed down, Eren walked back over to check on his mysterious helper.

“Thanks, stranger. We might’ve been zombie food if you didn’t show,” Eren cracked toothy grin and extended a hand.

Jean gripped it and gave a firm handshake.

“You owe me one, Jaeger,” Jean finally spoke.

Eren’s eyes widened as the muffled voice reached him.

“J-Jean?” Eren spoke, disbelief evident. “You survived in town?”

Jean quickly pulled his helmet off to try and enjoy the cool winter air. Instead all he could feel was the intense heat of the flames and the scent of smoldering flesh.

“Yeah. That’s the last time I ever pick up a shift for Connie,” Jean made a wisecrack, earning a smile from his coworker. “What the hell are you doing out here?”

“Trying to get Mikasa to the hospital,” Eren pointed over his shoulder to his fiancé. “Timing is garbage but her cramps are getting worse. I think she’s due any minute.”

“Uh guys?” Armin tried to break into the conversation.

“Well fancy that, so am I,” Jean informed him.

“You’re pregnant?” Eren gawked down at his tummy.

“Eren…” Armin tried once more.

“What? No! I gotta get to the hospital.” Jean shook his head.

“Oh, right. Well, you wanna tag along? You look like you’re prepared for the fucking apocalypse riding up on your motorcycle like that,” Eren admired Jean’s getup. “It was actually kind of badass.”

 

“Wow, it really is the end of days. Eren Jaeger is complimenting me,” Jean chuckled at the dark humor of the situation.

“Hey, you just rode up-” Eren continued the conversation until a rather angry Mikasa broke in.

“Boys, get in the car now. My water just broke,” she demanded.

Both Eren’s and Jean’s eyes widened as they scrambled to get into the vehicle.

“Jean, can you drive? I’m still kind of shit at it considering… well my leg,” Eren awkwardly requested.

“Sure, but that does beg the obvious question for me: how the fuck do you have two legs?!” Jean asked he jumped into the driver seat.

Eren opened the door to the front passenger seat and shuffled himself into it. It was then Jean noticed an actual shotgun laying at Eren’s feet. The brunet averted Jean’s curious gaze in favor of observing the shotgun. He remained silent until Armin spoke up from the back.

“It’s alright, Eren.” Armin encouraged Eren. “It’s the… zombie apocalypse after all. Confidentiality… died at the base.”

Eren looked back at Armin to find a reassuring smile, despite a hand resting on his stomach. “So remember how I’ve been off all month for medical recovery? Well, surprise I have a new leg.” Eren gestured to it.

“A new leg?” Jean echoed back like it was supposed to make any sense. He started the car and began process of straightening it out. “How do you get a new leg because that’s not the prosthesis you’ve had since the war ended?”

Eren frowned as he looked back at his best friends again. “Remember how I got that Medal of Honor?”

Jean kept his eyes trained on the road as he navigated around the cars and bodies littering the road. “Yeah. You singlehandedly saved your platoon despite a landmine sending shrapnel up your leg.”

“Right, and by the time I got to the hospital it was too late for my leg so they had to amputate. I got my honorable discharge and returned to Jinae for further treatment and started working at the garage since my dad knew Pixis from his days in the military.”

“Okay but what does that have to do with the fact you clearly have a functioning leg again?”

“E-everything,” Armin chimed in from the backseat. “I-I’m not sure… what Marco told you. But the base specializes in… experimental procedures.”

“Armin, are you alright?” Eren stared at his friend.

“Yeah, just out of breath.” Armin offered a pained smile.

Eren gave a skeptical look but returned to surveying the surrounding forest for any threats.

“Long story short I had an experimental procedure to regrow my lost leg,” Eren summarized.

Jean kept his attention on the road but his voice gave away his awe. “Really? That’s good I guess.”

“Yeah, it was. Me and several others underwent the procedure at the start of the month so I’ve been in therapy to get used to it before the baby came. But this morning the apartment complex started acting weird and suddenly our neighbors were attacking us. We barely got out of there when the gas explosion went off,” Eren stared back at the smoking town.

“Then the baby started kicking,” Mikasa continued. “We acquired this car, and you found us.”

“That’s the short version of the rest of it. But why do you need to go to the hospital? You look fine,” Eren observed as the base came into view.

“Getting Marco and then getting the hell out,” Jean kept his intents brief.

“Marco?” Eren shot him a quizzical look before a knowing smile crossed his face. “You still haven’t told him yet, have you?”

“Told Marco what?” Armin turned his head.

“That he’s in love with him.” Mikasa answered.

Armin blinked a few times before laughing a little bit until he winced. “Tell him. He’s still single.”

“Yeah, yeah, once we escape this zombie infested hell. We still need to find a way to get out of here. The walls are locked down so everyone’s trapped,” Jean informed his companions.

“They did what?” Eren narrowed his eyes back down the path they came. “There’s still people alive and trying to escape.”

“As far as the world is concerned they know zombies are here and only here and no one is alive. At least it’s contained here,” Jean tried to find the silver lining.

“So the world knows,” Armin frowned. “Closing the walls is… the contagion plan. If something happened. We need a helicopter… to get out.”

“I can fly one of those. We get this baby and Marco and we can escape,” Eren offered.

Jean sighed once more as they pulled up to the gate. “If only it was that simple. Also looks like the zombies got here too.”

Jean stared around the base to find it deserted. Just like in Jinae, bodies littered the ground and low groaning provided the only ambient noise around the base. Fear seeped into Jean as he began to think the worst. He put the pedal to the ground as they sped into the base towards the hospital.

“Careful!” Eren reprimanded him as they sped over bodies. “There has to be something we can fly to get out of here.”

“I’m not leaving until I have Marco and the Springers.”

“The Springers? What does Connie have to do with this?”

“Who do you think I got this firepower from? They got Marco’s baby sister who I rescued earlier. I told them I’d evacuate with them. Perhaps they can get here while your baby arrives.”

“Connie had all these guns? Really?” Eren shook his head as the towering hospital came into view.

“He prepared for the apocalypse a long time ago. But I promised so I won’t leave them behind.”

“You rescued a baby?” Mikasa seemed surprised at the notion.

“Of course. I went through that town twice before I sped out. Left my lucky wrench in a Santa zombie too. I’m still pissed about that,” Jean huffed as he slowed the vehicle to a stop outside the hospital entrance.

As he exited the vehicle, he was surprised by the pile of bodies just outside the door and along the border of the building. A lot looked like high impact wounds with their guts and brains splattered around them. What should’ve been a disturbing sight actually gave Jean a renewed sense of hope. And this warmth allowed his security to fall just long enough for a zombie to jump him from behind.

“Jean!” Armin called out.

The zombie pushed Jean down onto his back, drooling all over his jacket. Not one to go down easy, Jean struggled to keep its claws away from him. A deafening gunshot blasted the zombie off of him. Jean hurriedly pulled himself up to find Eren with a smoking shotgun.

“You can thank me later,” Eren grinned.

“You bet your ass I won’t. Now every creature in earshot is gonna come here. Let’s get her inside now!” Jean reminded Eren.

“Armin help Mikasa to the front. We’ll keep an eye out for more trouble,” Eren spoke as he scanned the area.

Jean joined Eren by his side as Armin struggled to get Mikasa up and out of the car with himself. Neither boy noticed the blood dripping down Armin’s leg as he moved Mikasa towards the entrance.

Jean pulled out one of his silenced pistols and prepared for the inevitable return of the zombies. During the lull in the ruined base, Jean took in his surroundings. Expended gun casings, numerous dead soldiers, and multiple smoking craters. All signs of an intense but chaotic fight. And just on the horizon a zombie came into view.

“Get ready, Jaeger,” Jean warned.

“Way ahead of you, Kirschtein.” Eren smirked.

But before any fighting could be had, some commotion from behind them drew their attention. Eren turned back to find Mikasa and Armin collapsed on the concrete.

“Guys, it’s Armin,” Mikasa shouted.

Eren instantly lowered his shotgun and bolted to his friend.

“Armin? What’s wrong?” Eren knelt down beside him as Jean jogged over.

“Shit, I was hoping we’d get inside first…” Armin cursed. Eren lifted Armin’s right hand and noticed the blood caked on it.

“What happened?” Jean asked.

Eren surveyed his friend without touching him, finding a bloody spot by his sweater. Eren gently lifted his jacket to find a piece of rebar steel in his gut.

“Wh-when did this happen?” Eren felt tears begin to sprinkle his eyes.

“Gas explosion…” Armin smiled. “But we’re here… take my card… and get in.”

“No, we’re not leaving you,” Eren demanded.

Jean turned around to see the zombies getting closer, now a lot more numerous than he initially thought.

“Jaeger, grab Mikasa and that card. See if the door will open. I’ll guard Armin until we can get in and bar the door,” Jean ordered. “If you’ve been bleeding out for a while it shouldn’t be a fatal wound. But he’s running out of time so do it.”

As Jean prepared to face the incoming zombie horde, the doors to the hospital kicked open. Before anyone had time to react, a rocket flew by the small ground and hit the incoming crowd of zombies.  
Jean and Eren turned to see small man with an annoyed expression by the door as well as a lady in a lab coat, goggles, and an RPG launcher in her care.

“Please do get in. And careful with Armin. I’ve lost enough assistants today as is and I’m rather fond of the blond coconut,” the lady with the lab coat ushered them in. The smaller man came out with a wheelchair for Mikasa and another freckled man came out with a stretcher.

Jean’s heart leapt into his throat as Marco came out, prepared to help Armin onto the stretcher.

“Y-you’re alive!” Jean exclaimed, getting Marco’s attention.

Rather than give a pleased reaction to Jean, he glared at him. “Why are you here? I thought you would’ve fled with Sasha and Connie!”

“Cut the chit chat, I ain’t in the mood for tossing more people out windows. Get in so we can lock the door again,” the smaller man instructed.

The boys nodded as they did their best to get everyone inside before the next wave came to claim them. Jean assisted Marco in lifting Armin onto the stretcher while Eren helped Mikasa into the wheelchair. They hurried as best they could before the next horde could return. And the explosion would only serve to attract more attention their way.

\---

Jean paced down the dimly lit teal and white hallways, doing his best to plan and not worry about his friends in surgery. It’d been almost an hour since they arrived and time felt so painfully slow by himself. Eren, the short man whose name he learned was Levi, and himself barricaded the front door with desks, chairs and anything else they could find on the first floor as Marco and the doctor escorted the other two patients up the elevator.

Levi returned to God knows where and Eren went into a room with Mikasa as her contractions got worse. Marco took Armin to an operating room but with no one else present in the hospital, Jean had no idea what they were doing to him. Nobody but those who rescued him seemed to be around.

“Jean, do you copy?” a voice crackled in his back pocket.

He practically jumped out of is skin as he clamored for his walkie talkie.

“Yes, Sasha, I’m here. Uh, over?” Jean responded.

“No need to say over, ya goof. Did you get to the base?”

Jean stared out the window overlooking the smoldering base. “Yes, with Eren, Mikasa, and Armin. How are things in your area?”

“Oh those three? Weird but awesome. We’re fine. I’m watching the babies while Connie is fixing up his zombie mobile. He’s so giddy he finally gets to use it. Christmas came early for him,” Sasha laughed.

“I’m glad someone is enjoying the holidays. It’s literally the Nightmare Before Christmas.”

“Oh where’s your holiday spirit, Jean?”

“About two miles in town with my lucky wrench lodged in its head,” Jean frowned at the bitter memory.

“What?”

“I killed Santa with a wrench.”

“Rude,” Sasha cackled on the other line. “Some stragglers have been reaching us but nothing I can’t pick off with my .22. Any escape plans yet?”

“No but we’re working on it. You may have to come to the base to bail out with us, but I’ll tell you once something is figured out.”

“Okay, hombre.”

A loud wail broke the silence of the hallway, but it was a source of relief than fear.

“I gotta go Sasha. Sounds like Mikasa’s baby is finally here.”

“Ooh send my congrats. We can throw a proper baby shower once this zombie apocalypse has past. Toodles. Oh and Jean? Maria is precious.”

“I know, I know. See ya.”

Jean pocketed the walkie talkie on his way down the hall and towards the source of the wails. By the time he arrived at the room, the wail had calmed down. He walked in to see Mikasa cradling small baby with black hair in her arms in a teddy bear printed blanket. Next to her sat Eren, with the proudest grin on his face. Across the room Jean saw Levi cracking a small smirk. The one person he didn’t recognize was the blond gentlemen sitting in a bed shirtless with one arm amputated just below the shoulder and wrapped in bandages. He was definitely older than Jean and seemed to be very fit, if his abs meant anything.

“Sasha offers her congrats on the baby,” Jean announced his presence.

“And Rose has yours. Thanks for getting us here,” Mikasa offered a rare smile.

“Rose?” Jean tilted his head.

“Rose Jaeger,” Eren clarified.

“Rose Ackerman,” Levi corrected as he walked across the room. “Not until you have your wedding will she inherit that shitty last name.”

“Down, cousin,” Mikasa scolded.

“Cousin?” Jean questioned once more.

“Yes, I’m her one family in this godforsaken town. Only because of my commission though,” Levi spoke.

“Our commission. Someone has to watch over all this fabulous technology,” the blond gentlemen gestured with his one good arm.

“Next time pick somewhere less redneck, Erwin,” Levi crossed his arms, returning to the man’s side. “Being leashed to you is painful enough.”

“It’s not all that bad, is it?” Erwin offered a coy smile to the smaller man, not getting a reply.

Eren and Jean watched the interaction between the two, not commenting on it.

“Uh, General Smith-” Eren began.

“Please, Eren, just call me Erwin.” Erwin interrupted him.

“O-okay. Erwin, do we know what the government will do now that Jinae is… well, a zombie infested area?” Eren questioned.

“Hmm, well depends on what they know. I haven’t any idea what got out. Could be anything from a controlled purge to complete rapid sterilization. Preferably the former though since we’re still here.”

“Rapid sterilization?” Jean dared to enter the conversation.

“The nuclear option, though no one wants that. Especially since they don’t know if that’d even work.”

“They’d bomb Jinae off the face of the Earth?!” Jean’s arms fell to his side.

“If it came to it, but they must know something is wrong otherwise we’d be silhouettes against some pavement right now,” Erwin shrugged.

Before they could continue down this dark train of thought, the doors opened to reveal Marco and the doctor from before. Marco shook his head to fluff his hair as he walked over towards Jean. The doctor made her way to the middle of the room as everyone stared at her.

“How’s Armin, Dr. Zoe?” Eren was the first to ask the thought on everyone’s mind.

“Alive,” she announced to everyone’s relief. “For now.”

“What’s wrong?” Jean cocked an eyebrow.

“The wound was a clean puncture, thankfully. And the sedatives worked nicely. But he lost a lot of blood before he got here so we could only reuse so much,” Dr. Zoe began to explain.

“Take mine.” Eren stood up.

“Calm down you spaz, they have blood banks here,” Jean shook his head.

“About that. It’s in an area we managed to block off but got surrounded by zombies. We could use Eren’s since its O blood but it comes with a catch. That serum we gave you would spread in Armin, potentially mutating him.” Dr. Zoe adjusted her goggles as she walked towards the general and Levi. “Fortunately I have a modified enzyme in the freezer that should counteract any negative effects.”

“A modified enzyme?” Marco replied, more surprised than confused.

“Yes, specific to Armin,” Dr. Zoe smiled.

“How? It took months to catalyze those for the soldiers like Eren. It also requires knowing his genetic profile,” Marco listed off like everyone in the room understood him.

“Oh I have one for all my assistants in case of accidental exposure. Why do you think I hosted that surprise party a few months back for you?” Dr. Zoe smiled. “Plenty of DNA from all the beer bottles left behind.”

“I… I thought you wanted to celebrate my birthday…” Marco’s face fell. For Jean it felt like watching a puppy get kicked.

“Oh, I did! I just figured I could kill two birds with one stone. Like I said, I’m fond of you lot,” Dr. Zoe reassured him, perking Marco up again. “But I’ll need you to fetch it from the fridge in the staff room.”

“Is that why you put biohazard tape all over that?”

“Possibly. The box containing the enzymes should be on top Moblit’s salad. Not that he’ll need that anymore. Bring me the box and we’ll get Armin up and moving in an hour.”

“Fine, Jean please come with me,” Marco requested before turning towards the door. Jean merely nodded as he followed his friend in green scrubs out of the room.

What Jean didn’t expect was the instant embrace Marco gave him once they were out of everyone’s view. The tight hug spread warmth through Jean, until he gradually returned the gesture. Time slowed once again for Jean as he savored the small moment.

“Oh and boys, grab some drinks from the fridge for us. Thanks!” Dr. Zoe called out from the room.

“Yes, sir,” Marco replied, still not moving from his spot. In a hushed voice, he whispered to Jean. “I’m so glad you’re alive. I was so scared.”

“You were scared? I was terrified you were dead,” Jean confessed as both released each other. “As soon as shit hit the fan I took off for your house to find you.”

“You went to my house? Maria, dad, how are they?” Marco grabbed Jean by his shoulders, staring intensely.

Jean averted his gaze to the ground as the events ran through his head. “Maria is safe. Your father is… gone. I’m sorry.”

Marco’s grip loosened and his hands slid down Jean’s arms as he leaned forward into his chest. Hugging him tightly one more time, Jean tried to comfort Marco as best he could. Salty tears now added to the mess on Jean’s jacket.

“W-where’s Maria?” Marco asked, his voice muffled by Jean’s jacket.

“She’s with the Springers. I dropped her off before coming here,” Jean informed him.

Marco sniffed before pulling himself out of Jean’s embrace. “Thank you so much. You have no idea how much that means to me.”

“It was nothing, don’t worry,” Jean tried to play it cool and shrug it off. He chuckled awkwardly and started walking to the staff lounge. “Let’s get that enzyme and save Armin.”

Only one step into his journey, Jean felt his hand get tugged harshly back by Marco’s. He turned to find his best friend’s teary face staring at him.

“Jean, it wasn’t nothing. You saved my baby sister. That’s everything to me.”

Marco then lead the way to the rec room, not letting go of Jean’s hand the entire way.

\---

“Okay, I have water, soda, and some beer. Who wants what?” Jean announced as he and Marco returned.

Jean came in cradling all the drinks while Marco entered with only the box in his grasp. Careful to not shake the carbonated drinks, Jean set beverages down on a counter by the sink.

“Didn’t grab an energy drink for me? What a shame. Pass me a Coke,” Dr. Zoe asked. “Oh and Marco, be sure to shake the enzyme up please. Don’t have a vortex machine so manual will have to do.”

“Yes, sir,” Marco replied as he opened the box and searched for Armin’s vial. True to Dr. Zoe’s word, there was a small half vial with an A on top. As Marco pulled it out, he found Armin’s full name written on it.

Jean continued passing the drinks out at everyone’s request, saving only a bottle of water for himself. Levi and the general received the two beer cans they had, Eren grabbed the last soda, and Mikasa took the bottle of water for herself. As Jean leaned down to give Mikasa her drink, she gently grabbed his collar and pulled him towards her.

A light peck on his cheek left him pink.

“Thank you, again.”

“Y-you’re welcome.”

“We discussed it while you were gone,” Eren stood up and joined Mikasa by the bedside. “And we want to name you Rose’s godfather alongside Armin.”

“Wait, what?” Jean’s brain stopped processing at that moment.

“You saved all our lives, including hers. We’d like to do that once we’re out of this mess,” Eren said.

“He’d be honored,” Marco answered for Jean, still shaking the vial. “Is this enough Dr. Zoe?”

“Should be. Come on Eren and Marco, let’s save Armin,” Dr. Zoe ordered.

Eren and Marco followed the doctor out of the door as Jean still remained by Mikasa’s bed. He processed what had just been offered to him, but his guilt prevented him from accepting it.

“Mikasa, I’m not sure I can. I-I don’t deserve it,” Jean mumbled by her.

“What do you mean?” She wondered, her voice stoic but curious.

“I-I wasn’t going to save you guys initially. When I sped back to town I did my best to ignore the screams until I heard it was you guys. I had no intention of stopping for anyone. My goal was to get Marco and no one else,” Jean blabbered. “Hell I don’t deserve Marco’s thanks. I saved his sister but I… I killed his dad.”

Despite Jean’s rambling, Mikasa listened intently. Her eyes bounced to something behind Jean, then back to him.

“You killed his dad?”

“I mean I didn’t have a choice. He was going to kill Maria… When I got there it was all so fast. He called me inside and shoved Maria in my arms. Before I could ask anything after that he lashed out at me. All the life in his eyes just faded… and it was replaced with rage. He tried to attack me and Maria…”

“What happened?”

“Slashing, biting, the usual from those feral humans. B-but I had my wrench. I warned him over and over again. And he almost got Maria so I had no choice…”

“Jean, you protected his sister so he’ll understand. And you still stopped for us, regardless of your motives. That’s reason enough for us to be grateful,” Mikasa consoled him.

“Kid,” Levi added from across the room, “I don’t know the details of how you got here or half the shit you’re word-vomiting about but I know this: you’ve saved lives. We all make choices we regret but are necessary and must live with the results. And you’ve brought me my cousin, her fiancé, their friend, as well as a new baby into this world. And from what I’ve heard you’ve saved another baby here. You’ve done well.”

“Really well considering this town has gone up in flames,” Erwin remarked just before taking a swig of beer.

“You’ve earned being a godfather once we get out of here,” Levi concluded.

“Speaking of which, we need to hash that out.” Erwin recalled. “The transport chopper can hold about seven but we have more than that from what I gather.”

“If we’re counting everyone then its ten adults and three babies.” Mikasa informed everyone.

“Where’s the other two people and babies?”

“Out of town with a weapon stash and some anti-zombie vehicle. And before you ask I don’t know what the vehicle is but they are very capable people and can arm a small militia with their own armory,” Jean provided more info.

“Hm, that’s helpful at least. I like the sound of them. I suppose that walkie talkie in your pocket can reach them?” Erwin guessed.

“Yes, and I said I’d tell them when to come here.”

“Interesting. What time is it Levi?

“It’s 2000 hours, sir,” Levi replied. “Eight pm for the civilians.”

“So we have about two hours before the Christmas tree is set to light?”

“Yes, but what does that have to do with us?”

“Everything. That broadcast is going to happen since it’s hardwired into the cable feeds in the surrounding cities and then broadcasted from multiple news stations. If the outside world is interested in this area then I’m willing to bet that’s our only chance to get a plea for help out there.”

“Hold on a second,” Jean interrupted, recalling something from earlier. “You haven’t seen the news yet you know this area is contained. How?”

Erwin simply offered a coy smile. “Classified information. But that means you’ve seen media reports somehow. What do you know?”

“Classified my ass,” Jean scoffed. “All they know is there’s a zombie outbreak and no news of survivors.”

“That explains why they haven’t nuked us yet. Probably going to go with the controlled purge at this point. That means we have time. If those news copters are still hovering around here like I suspect we might not need the transport helicopter. A plea from us. And the smoke should be dying down by then I hope.”

“Plea?” Jean quirked an eyebrow.

“Sure, show an injured veteran such as myself, an injured person with his doctor, and a young couple each with their own baby, including a gay one, all fighting off zombies to survive should be ample material to motivate people. Everything that could possibly tug at the heartstrings.”

“Young, gay couple?”

“You and Marco,” Levi specified.

“For fuck’s sake we are not-”

“Quit kidding yourself,” Mikasa insisted.

“Or just pretend, I don’t care which. We need to get out of here so we’re gonna leverage every possibility,” Erwin instructed. “And tell your friends to come here a little before then with those guns you mentioned because we’re gonna need all the artillery we can get in order to buy the time for the helicopters to get us.”

Jean nodded, barely noticing the others returning to the room. Eren walked back to Mikasa and his child, looking none the worse, while Dr. Zoe returned to the general and Levi. Marco strolled over to Jean but tapped him on the shoulder.

“Let’s talk outside,” Marco briefly said. Jean frowned at the suspicious tone used but did as asked.

Following Marco just outside the door, Jean patiently waited to be engaged. His skin crawled from the chilly atmosphere that hung over them. When Marco refused to look Jean in the eyes, worry began to sink in.

“Is everything alright, Marco?” Jean finally broke the silence.

Marco’s eyes fluttered to his, bringing a light blush back to Jean’s pale cheeks.

“Yeah. I just can’t think of how to word this. I- I heard what you said to Mikasa. I was coming back since the transfusion began and I wasn’t needed but stopped outside the door when you explained yourself.”

Jean’s blood froze when hearing those words. The guilt that had already been gnawing at the back of his head shot down his spine, leaving a tingling sensation at each nerve it passed through. If anything, he just wanted to vomit right now. “Y-you heard all of it?”

“Yes,” Marco replied, biting his bottom lip before continuing. Jean fought back the bile of his stomach that pushed upwards. “And I forgive you. Please don’t tear yourself up over it. I’m tremendously sad but Maria is alive. And I can never thank you enough for that.”

“But your dad…”

“Is in a better place. At least I like to think so. Better than this hellscape. And I still value what you’ve done for me already so again, thank you. I owe you more than I can repay,” Marco smiled. “And knowing that, I still have a favor to ask. Could you put Maria on the walkie talkie?”

“Oh, yeah,” Jean perked up at the idea. He fished the device out of his back pocket and clicked for Sasha. “Hey, Springers, you there?”

“What up, Jeanbo?” Connie greeted.

“Call me that again and I’ll kill you if the zombies don’t.”

“No need to be moody. I almost got Sean roadworthy. He’s truly a sight to behold.”

“Who the hell is Sean?” Jean gave Marco a puzzled look, only receiving a shrug.

“My anti-zombie Jeep. He’s a beaut. Once I hook the battery up to the front, we’ll be ready to go.”

“About that. We got a plan but it requires your armory. Can you bring that with you?”

“But of course. When do you want to us to go? Sasha has kept this place clear but the shots are getting more frequent.”

“Probably in an hour tops but I’ll let you know. Can you put Sasha on? Marco wants to talk to Maria,” Jean requested.

“Yeah, sure. One moment.”

Jean and Marco patiently waited. During their quiet pause Jean took a moment to roll his eyes at his friend’s ridiculousness.

“Sasha here. I hear Marco wants to talk to Maria. So here she is. Go ahead.”

Marco went straight into Jean’s personal space and pressed Jean’s finger on the walkie talkie for him. “Maria, how are you?”

A brief pause left Jean and Marco tense until an excited squeal came across the line.

“Told ya, boys.”

“Oh thank God. Thanks for taking care of her, Sasha.”

Marco’s face beamed from joy and relief at hearing his baby sister.

“Don’t thank me, Marco. You should be thanking the strapping young man with the walkie. He braved his way into town to save that girl and brought her here. You don’t find that kind of commitment everyday.”

Jean’s blood drained from his face when he realized what Sasha was getting at.

Still pressing Jean’s finger on the walkie talkie, Marco replied. “I know, I’m incredibly lucky to have a friend like that.”

“Exactly. _Don’t let that go Mr. Bodt.”_

“Trust me, I won’t. Uh, over?”

“No need to say over. Over.”

Marco released Jean’s hand so he could pocket the device. Jean really hoped Marco couldn’t see how rosy his cheeks were at that moment but with him that close, it was really obvious. Despite letting go of his hand, Marco didn’t leave Jean’s personal space either.

“See? Maria is safe.” Jean offered a tiny smile as he swallowed.

“She is. And you know what?”

“W-what?”

Closing the distance between their bodies one more time, Marco wrapped one arm around Jean’s back and the other grabbed the back of his head. Briefly stunned by the move, Jean tried to copy it yet only succeeded in embracing Marco’s back. His hair stood on end when Marco whispered in his ear.

“Sasha is right. I’m not letting you go,” Marco tightened his hold as Jean felt tears alongside his face, not his tears. “And I know this incredibly selfish of me but please stay with me and Maria after this. Please.”

“M-M-Marco? I’d love to,” Jean forced out with a heavy breath. He finally heard the words that he was too cowardly to say. Technically he failed his New Year’s resolution by having Marco confess to him, but that was semantics.

“Thank you,” Marco replied, barely audible.

Jean wanted to bask in this happy moment for a while, where everything he wanted seemed within reach. Yet reality had a way to cut it short. The happy couple pulled each other as close as possible when a door at the end of the hall slammed open.

“Oh, sorry!” A meek voice apologized to them as Jean’s body tried to process his surroundings once more. At the end of the hall in nothing but pants and shoes stood Armin, frightened of what he just did.

Marco let go of Jean and turned to see what just happened. Dr. Zoe, Eren, and Levi came running out of the room to see the cause of the commotion.

“Well, that worked faster than I thought. Interesting,” Dr. Zoe rubbed her chin. “Take dainty and movements. You have the titan serum in your veins now.”

“What? How?” Armin shot back a look of utter shock as he carefully stepped towards them. “Wait, how am I not a mindless zombie then?”

“She had an enzyme for you. All the assistants have one apparently.” Marco informed him. “That’s also how you’re alive and walking right now. Eren provided the blood you needed to survive the operation.”

Armin froze in his tracks, flexing his hands as he absorbed the information.

“I see. Thank you Eren. I thought I was a goner.”

Jean narrowed his eyes at the exchange. It was brief but he followed the conversation a lot closer than last time.

“What do you mean a mindless zombie?” Jean crossed his arms.

The three scientists looked in between each other and back at the general in the room, none answering the question.

“It’s classified,” Erwin responded from inside the room, only serving to piss Jean off earlier.

“Fuck classified! I just spent the last ten hours clawing through a literal hell and you all know something I don’t. What happened?”

Dr. Zoe readjusted her goggles before extending a hand to Armin. “Your strength is likely significantly less than a pure serum but take it carefully. Marco, please explain to your boyfriend the current hypothesis. If we’re all rescued he’s going to be debriefed nonetheless so might as well bring him up to speed.”

“You’re fine making that call, sir?” Marco frowned until he received a nod from his superior.

“What’s going on?” Jean asked again.

“The zombies out there are likely a result of being administered an incomplete version of the medicine Eren and other soldiers received. We have no idea how it was administered but if this many people were affected our guess is by water.”

“Incomplete? What does that mean?”

“It means they’re what Armin would be if he didn’t received that specific enzyme to help process the serum. Without it the body suffers from partial neural degeneration and becomes a shell of its former self since the immune system cannot fight it off. Most of the time.”

“That’s a stupid ass serum if I ever heard one. Why make something that’d do that to others?”

“Because it wasn’t supposed to go to the public,” Armin interrupted as Dr. Zoe moved him towards the room. “It’s a military secret. The purpose is to help our soldiers recover and become super soldiers. Extra strength, rapid healing. The enzyme allows us to control who receives it so it doesn’t become a stolen secret.”

“Then how the hell would it have gotten in the water supply?” Jean interrogated further, finally entering the room with the other.

“Terrorist attack, disgruntled lab worker, there are many possibilities. What I’m more afraid of is the cases that don’t suffer complete neural degeneration,” Dr. Zoe frowned.

“And what are those?” Eren now joined in.

“You know those anti-bacterial commercials that advertise things like ‘kills 99.9% of all germs’ and such? Ever have nightmares about what those germs were like to have survived such hell?”

“No, can’t say I have,” Jean scoffed at the thought.

“Well, you should’ve. Because that’s what those who don’t suffer such degeneration are like. They have the same abilities as the successful soldiers but with no forethought. All instinct. More regeneration and super strength, plus and iron will to spread the disease.”

“That’s… terrifying,” Jean admitted. “Let’s say the disease was spread through water, what’s to stop more humans from drinking it and mutating?”

“Simple, the serum becomes ineffective after fifteen minutes outside its proper environment or a human body. It’s based off human DNA so all animals are safe. Any leftover water with it will have a white film at the top of it so people just need to filter it out, otherwise you’ll get a little sick but nothing the immune system can’t fight.”

“When it’s inside humans though it becomes transferable. The ‘zombies’ are just doing the natural instinct of all viruses and trying to pass it on,” Marco explained further.

“Hence my arm,” Erwin gestured to his amputation. “When it got bitten Levi prevented it from spreading with some quick thinking otherwise I’d be a mindless creature right now.”

“That was my favorite arm too,” Levi frowned. “Shitty zombie.”

Not responding immediately, Jean processed what he heard along with the others.

“Well,” Jean finally spoke, “I’m never drinking tap water again.”

“Good idea, my paranoid friend,” Dr. Zoe agreed. “Now we must prepare for tonight. I heard something about an escape plan? I have all the files the military needs to counteract this on my flash drive. But we’re gonna need weapons if we’re leaving here.”

“About that,” Erwin smiled. “Jean, please call your friends. I think the time has come to get ready to mobilize.”

\---

Dull flickering lights provided the only illumination for the former military base in the dark evening. In the time since the plan was finalized, the smoke and fires died down but the fiery orange still glowed in the fresh ruins of Jinae. Underneath the pale rays of the moon that penetrated the remaining smoke, the group made their move. Eren and Levi lead the charge outside the hospital, both with handguns donated from Jean. While he was a good shot, both men had served and more than proven themselves. General Smith borrowed the assault rifle and Dr. Zoe still had a few more rockets for her RPG. Although everyone insisted they were only a last resort, lest they attract more unwanted attention.

Mikasa and Armin remained between everyone guarding the baby while Jean brought up the rear with his pistol ready in hand. Besides the faint buzzing of electricity rubble crumbling, the night was eerily silent. The juicy sounds of flesh being chewed was the grim reminder for everyone as they quietly trudged to the tell Christmas tree already decorated near the center of the base.

“I hope your friends arrive in time,” Erwin whispered back towards Jean.

The mechanical sounds of the guns indicated they were being fired up front. Jean kept his eyes peeled as he replied. “I trust them. And knowing them, we’ll hear them before we see them.”

As they continued their trek, helicopters could be heard flying over the base and spotlights in the sky beaming down on Jinae could be seen through the smoke.

“At least we aren’t alone tonight,” Erwin noted.

When their destination came into view, the heavily decorated tree was the only part of the area that seemed to be untouched by the chaos. The chairs and podium in front of the tree were in complete disarray with some bodies scattered about. Any lingering zombies were quickly disposed of by the two men in the front, and reloading magazines clicked in at the same time.

“Lights go live in five minutes, sir,” Levi informed him.

“No need to be so formal, dear,” Erwin grinned as he jumped up on the stage, taking in his surroundings.

“I’m not calling you bedroom names until we get out of here,” Levi shook his head.

“Dear?” Mikasa formed a wry smile on her face. Levi gave his best sour look but it did little to dissuade her. “Mom is going to be so pleased to hear.”

“That I’m fucking my boss. I’m sure.”

“Getting fucked by too,” Erwin enlightened everyone, finally getting a look of disgust from Mikasa.

“Must be like fucking a lemon,” Jean commented in a hushed tone, causing Marco to sputter.

An icy cold glare shut both of them up, both praying Levi didn’t hear.

“Be prepared. When the lights goup, so does the pre-recorded music. We’re gonna be a beacon for everything around us,” Erwin advised, cocking his assault rifle.

Everyone nodded, making their last preparations. Mikasa tightened the sling around her chest, grabbing a nearby chair. Armin gripped his shotgun with anticipation, Marco held his handgun nervously, Dr. Zoe reloaded a rocket, and Jean unsheathed his knife with one hand as the other aimed the gun. Levi walked up to one of the dead bodies and pulled something off of it.

“This could prove fun,” he commented as he unsheathed a sabre, sticking the tip into the wooden podium.

Erwin took his place behind the podium and aimed his assault rifle ahead. Just as he cleared his throat, the lights suddenly came to life. Bright, multicolored lights displayed the various decorations of the tree just as a giant five second countdown began on nearby fallen teleprompter. The other cameras shown with life, all pointed at podium. When all the spotlights aimed at the stage, the collective groaning around the base amplified tenfold as the holiday music started.

“Citizens of Eldia, this is General Erwin Smith of the Survey Corp Outpost in Jinae. As many of you have seen, the city is in ashes and overrun by zombie-like creatures. I’m here as a survivor to announce to the world that there are others like myself, here fighting the good fight. But we need evacuation ASAP. Please send help via air as the walls have been shut for the safety of the country. Please join me up here my comrades, before the zombies swarm us.”

Doing as requested by Erwin, everyone jumped on the stage. All stood by their loved ones.

“I implore you as veterans, doctors, scientists, patients, young couples, and young parents. And whatever the hell Hanji is. We have people of all walks of life here, all equally deserving of living after surviving this hell. Please help as by coming here to make this plea, the zombies are running towards us now. And with that, hurry. Everyone here, safeties off.”

Jean gripped Marco’s hand _hard_ at the mention of young couples. Dr. Zoe gave an offended scoff at the remark about her. Just as the speech ended, Levi fired the first shot at something coming from the chairs.

“They’re here,” he declared, jumping off the stage. “Cover our rear, Erwin.”

Jean made the motion to jump down but his hand was yanked back to Marco.

“Wha-”

Before he could finish his first word, Marco sealed their lips. On stage. In front of the cameras. It was brief, but long enough to make Jean’s head foggy.

“In case things go bad. That’s a good luck kiss,” Marco smiled sweetly.

“We’ll survive this,” Jean finally stated, clearing his head. As much as he wanted another, they had to survive first. “Stay by my side. We need to get ready for the Springers.”

As if on cue, machine gun fire could be heard echoing in the distance. Shortly after, bright lights shown near the entrance of the base.

“Took them long enough,” Eren shouted from glee as he picked off another zombie. As the lights drove towards the tree, they illuminated the massive horde heading towards them.

“Oh, crap,” Armin said.

Mikasa dropped her chair and started digging around the bodies for anything more useful. As she did her search, Dr. Zoe used the opportunity to fire off a rocket at the incoming horde.

“Merry Christmas!” She shouted as the rocket blew up, sending stone, guts, and goop all over the place. Some questionable liquid landed on Jean’s hands, prompting him to instantly wipe it on his jacket.

“No amount of bleach is going to save this thing,” Jean cursed as he fired at an incoming zombie. “Marco, on your left.”

“Thanks.” Marco shot as instructed.

“Levi, at my side! Grab the sword,” Erwin ordered.

“Yes, _honey_ ,” Levi cracked a grin, dropping an empty magazine from his gun. He reloaded it on his way to the sabre, pulling it out of the wood. “Already out of ammo?”

“These things empty rather fast when you can’t reload,” Erwin laughed.

As the Springer’s jeep approached the group from the front, Jean thought he saw bright lights occasionally coming from the front of it. Even with the light provided by the jeep and the base, the group of zombies seemed to be endlessly pouring from unseen places. Jean dropped all the zombies he could, but ammo was sparse since he had to share with the entire group. When his last magazine ran out, he mentally prepared himself for the incoming horde. Maybe this was going to be his last hurrah. He flipped the gun over, gripping it by its silencer and charged at the nearest zombie, caving in its skull with the pistol grip.

“Hurry the fuck up, Sasha!” Jean yelled.

“Kirschtein!” Eren called out. Jean turned in time to see Eren tossing him his gun. “That should tide you over.”

Jean caught it, dropping his other gun on the ground. “What about you?”

“Titan serum, remember?” Eren grinned, cracking his knuckles. He stepped forward, grabbing a chair and easily tossing it like a Frisbee into the incoming crowd. The unlucky few zombies in the path of the chair were quickly bisected or straight up obliterated by the incoming seat.

“Christ, Jaeger, just do that,” Jean shook his head, quickly resuming taking potshots.

“Incoming, over,” Sasha radioed in as the jeep came over the parking lot and plowed through a nativity scene.

Everyone backed up from the incoming splintered wood, mildly astonished by the jeep coming to a halt.

“One moment, my friends,” Connie proclaimed as he jumped into the trunk of the jeep. He stood up to grab something mounted to the rollcage, Jean’s mouth dropped. “Everyone behind me please.”

Not that there was anyone in front of him, Connie fired up the machine gun. With a look of sheer joy on his face, Connie effortlessly mowed down any of the incoming zombies from the front. Most the people around stopped what they were doing to witness what would be the crowning moment Connie’s life for years to come. As he did this, Sasha got out of the driver seat with Maria in a sling around her chest, wearing tiny earmuffs. She walked over to Jean.

“Take her,” Sasha ordered.

“How? She’s Marco’s sister,” Jean complained until he saw the look of fury in Sasha’s eyes.

“Jean Kirschtein-Bodt stick your arms out so I can tie this helpless infant to you or so help God,” Sasha threatened until he did as told. He kept mum as Maria was secured to his back, giggling somehow in all the chaos.

“Jean Kirschtein-Bodt?” Marco asked with a bemused smile.

“Don’t wear it out,” Jean decided to roll with it. 

“Alright we got a fun arsenal for anyone who needs it,” Sasha announced as she started picking weapons out of the trunk. “First up, grenade launcher.”

“Over here, miss,” Erwin asked from the podium.

Without hesitation, Sasha tossed it up into Erwin’s arm. “You got seven rounds, use them wisely. Assualt rifle, extended mag!”

“Over here,” Mikasa raised her hand.

“Consider it a baby shower present. And for little Rose, ear protection,” Sasha produced another set of earmuff look alikes. “Now go make your mama proud. Who wants another assault rifle?”

“I’ll match Mikasa,” Eren said, after chucking another chair into the horde being showered upon by bullets from an ecstatic Connie.

Sasha handed him the gun without hesitation as well as a few magazines. “Shotgun?”

“Me, I can’t aim for anything,” Marco admitted on his way over to Sasha.

“We gotta fix that when we’re free,” she chided him as handed an automatic one over. “Drum magazine means a lot of shots but no reloading so be careful.”

“Why no reload?”

“Didn’t bring a second drum. I got another shotgun for Armin since I’m guessing he can’t do the same.”

“Th-thanks,” Armin chuckled as he dropped his in favor of the better equipped one.

“Same rules as Marco’s. Jean, take the handguns since you seem to like those. I’m holding onto the rifle, and Connie is in charge of suppressing fire. Merry Christmas to everyone here, let’s survive this!”

Rather than start shooting with everyone, Sasha jumped into the car. A few moments later she reemerged with Sina strapped to her back on another sling and a hunting rifle in her arms.

A spotlight pierced the smoke and shined upon the survivors. Everyone paused momentarily to recognize it as a news copter. It lowered itself nearby, though unable to land. The air rushed passed everyone and pushed chairs and bodies around, stirring up dust and guts. A rope ladder dropped down.

“Channel 5 news here. We have room for two. Grab onto the ladder and we can evacuate some to safety. Other stations are on their way!” A reporter shouted down.

The group looked between themselves before Jean started shouting. “Mikasa, take Rose and get on. Armin get on behind her! Mothers and injured first!”

Content without arguing, Mikasa fired a few shots off to the side of the stage and Armin dropped his shotgun. He let Mikasa start climbing first and he followed closely behind. While they boarded the helicopter, Sasha began shooting at any zombie that tried to get near them. As soon as Armin grabbed the ladder, the copter lifted off the ground.

“Where’s General Smith?” Eren shouted as he looked around.

An explosion further off in the distance showed that no one was protecting them from behind. Jean grit his teeth as he shot at more coming from the sides.

“Coward ran off. Sasha and Marco get on the next copter,” Jean barked.

“Why me?” Sasha sounded offended as she emptied the last of her clip. She ran to the trunk for a reload.

“Because Sina. Marco take Maria,” Jean requested.

“Like hell I’m leaving you,” Marco refused.

Jean paused to turn and face his boyfriend. “I didn’t risk everything this long so you’d die, so please take your sister and escape. I’ll be fine.”

Marco shook his head. He took aim at an encroaching zombie and fired. “We’re leaving this together.”

“I’ll go,” Dr. Zoe volunteered. “I got all the information the military needs to counteract this threat so I’d like to deliver that sooner rather than later.”

“Take my spot then, sir,” Marco offered, causing Jean to frown.

“But… Alright, fine,” Jean agreed just as a zombie jumped Marco. Before it could claw him, Jean aimed his handgun at its head. “For fuck’s sake.”

A pull of the trigger saved his boyfriend, splattering brain matter all over the ground and part of Marco’s face. Jean tossed him his rag as he looked around for anymore incoming threats.

“Thanks.”

“Don’t die on me yet, babe,” Jean smiled. “Jaeger, cover our asses!”

“Already on it,” Eren signaled as another spotlight broke through the smoke, albeit still a small distance away.

Just as the light flickered over them, the sound of Connie’s machine gun ceased. “Hey, Jean? It’s like Christmas!”

“Connie, it’s a Nightmare before Christmas. Also its Christmas Eve,” Jean retorted.

“Where’s your festive spirit?” He laughed as he reloaded his weapon.

“I already told your wife, back in town lodged in Santa’s head,” Jean said, paying more attention to any zombies stupid enough to come into the spotlight.

“About that, Jean. I think it’s here,” Sasha said as she lowered her rifle. She squinted into the night, unable to completely make out an object.

“The hell does that mean?”

“Santa Clause dead ahead, and something is imbedded in his head.” Sasha pointed into the darkness.

“Can’t be the same one, I lodged my wrench in his head!” Jean refused to believe. He stopped firing to look in the direction Sasha pointed, but couldn’t make anything out until it stepped into the light of the area. Jean’s blood ran cold at familiar sight because if that was the same zombie from that morning, it was much bigger than he remembered. Somehow its muscles had grown exponentially as well its height. The only familiar think about it was the wrench jutting out the back of its head. “Are you fucking kidding me…”

Connie took the opportunity to fire the machine gun at it, yet the gunfire did seemingly nothing to it.

“Oh, well shit,” he cursed.

In the silence as everyone began to notice this interesting zombie, a tiny voice spoke.

“Shit fuck,” Sina excitedly spoke from Sasha’s back.

As much as Jean wanted to brag and laugh, the reaction from the baby really summed up their situation quite well. Sasha wasn’t as scared as Jean or her husband though.

“Both you are in so much shit when we get out of this,” she threatened before taking aim with her rifle. She shot the zombie directly in the head but the bullet merely glanced off.

“I’ll collect my five bucks later,” Jean replied. “Dr. Zoe, I think we found the .1% of zombies.”

A high pitched squeal temporarily stunned Jean as Dr. Zoe immediately ran over to his side. “Where’s this golden specimen?”

Jean pointed right at Santa Claus.

“That thing. It’s bulletproof,” Jean informed her.

“Really? Let’s bench test that durability,” Dr. Zoe declared as she lowered her goggles. “Fire in the hole!”

A rocket flew forward, blazing a trail across the holiday scene, and nailing Santa dead. From the explosion, guts, rubble, and metal flew. Clanging onto the ground next to Jean landed his wrench.

“Oh sweet,” Jean smiled as he quickly retrieved it.

Everyone looked at the remains of the Santa, quite pleased to find it in many bits.

“Bench test complete,” Dr. Zoe concluded just as a rope ladder fell onto stage.

“We don’t have much fuel left but we can grab three so hurry up here,” someone called down to them. Without hesitation D. Zoe dropped the rocket launcher and started climbing the ladder, followed by Sasha and baby Sina.

“Connie, go. We can take care of the rest. Join your family!” Jean ordered.

“B-b-but zombies!” He frowned.

“Honey. Get your ass here now! I will _not_ be a single mother explaining to her daughter her father died fighting zombies when he could’ve escaped,” Sasha shouted, putting an end to any debate. Connie grabbed some ammo as he left the jeep and sprinted to the ladder. He handed Jean another magazine before grabbing onto the ladder. “We’re on. Fly!”

On Sasha’s orders, the helicopter took off leaving only Jean, Marco, and Eren. Not wanting to let anymore zombies get close, Jean took Connie’s position on the jeep and started firing the machine gun around them. Eren covered part of their back while Marco shot at anything that came near the jeep. While they were preoccupied with zombies in the distance, none of the boys noticed the Santa zombie twitching and slowly coming back together.

Jean fired at anything that remotely looked like it was moving until the machine gun clicked empty. During all the firing he wasn’t able to hear the nearest zombie sneak up on him. Santa smashed a hand onto the back of the jeep, knocking Jean off his balance. He fell into the trunk, right at eye level with Santa.

“Oh come on,” he complained just as the creature grabbed him by the throat and lifted him out of the vehicle.

“Eren, it’s alive!” Marco shouted. “Careful, it has Jean and Maria.”

Eren refrained from firing as they stared down the creature, still smoking from the earlier explosion.

“Oh, boys? “ A voice came over the walkie talkie from Jean’s back. “That zombie can probably regenerate because healing and all. So get away from there.”

“No shit, Hanji,” Marco cursed, daring to move closer. “Let go of my family!”

Marco aimed his shotgun at the legs of the zombie and started firing as he walked towards it. No remorse could be seen on his face as the zombie screeched. First Marco shot its foot, then its knee, and then it’s other knee. This forced the creature to fall onto its knees, but it still kept and iron grip on Jean’s throat. Next Marco shot at the arm holding his boyfriend, and emptied his clip by obliterating the limb until Jean pulled himself free.

Jean landed on his ass and slowly crawled away. Marco dropped his gun and helped Jean to his feet.

“Thanks, Marco. I could kiss you right now,” Jean smiled.

“After we get out of this,” Marco returned the happy smile.

Jean fished the walkie talkie out of his pocket, finding the device cracked and partially smashed from his impact. “Yeah it came back to life. Any idea on how to kill it?”

“Same way you kill the soldiers, gotta eliminate the head,” Dr. Zoe responded over the radio.

“How the hell can we do that?” Jean almost shouted back, but not before a loud roar from the creature surprised the trio. “Oh fuck this.”

Fed up with Santa, Jean dropped the walkie talkie and started emptying his handgun into the zombie’s head. Marco ran back towards the stage while Eren slowly approached the Santa. Jean dropped the empty clip form his gun as he carefully drew closer. To his surprise, its other grabbed his leg and tried to trip him onto his back. He barely caught his fall, preventing Maria from getting pancaked into the ground. She giggled at the sudden drop.

“Let go, you asshole,” Eren swore. He fired the assault rifle at Santa’s head, causing the grip around Jean’s leg to loosen. Rather than wait to break free, Jean reached for his knife and started stabbing at the zombie’s hand. It was more than disconcerting to see the flesh continuously reform around his blade.

“I said, let go of my family!” Marco ordered as he fire a shotgun shell into its head. He repeated the process from earlier until Jean pulled himself free and the zombie fell backwards. Rather than leave it there, Eren dropped his assault rifle and ran over to it.

“I never thought I’d ever have to use this maneuver,” He grunted as he brought Santa’s partially destroyed head into a headlock. “Jean, grab and reload the rocket launcher, now!”

Although he didn’t understand Jaeger’s plan, Jean nodded and ran over to the abandoned rocket launcher. Lying next to it was the ammunition Dr. Zoe had been gleefully using since they met. “I don’t know how to reload one of these things.”

“That’s fine, bring it here,” Eren requested through gritted teeth. On his way back to Eren, Jean paused when he saw Eren successfully rip Santa’s head of his shoulders, along with part of his spine. Seeing the vertebrae and multiple cracked ribs made Jean almost vomit on the spot. “We don’t have much time!”

Steeling himself and his stomach, Jean brought the weapon over. Eren kicked Santa’s remains far away before setting the head back down. He wiped the guts and blood on his sweater before attempting to reload the rocket. After a few misses he succeeded in reloading it. To Jean and Marco’s surprise Eren then mounted Santa’s head on the rocket. Eren aimed it at a nearby building and launched it.

The building went up in smoke in flames, allowing relief to wash over the trio. Maria squealed even louder after the blast.

“Marco, I don’t know if I should be afraid that your sister finds so much joy in the violence,” Jean joked.

“She can watch Tarintino films when this is all over,” Marco decided with a laugh.

“Not to spoil the moment but we have guests,” Eren gestured to the encroaching zombie horde. “Any last ideas before we become zombie chow?”

Jean passed Eren his knife as he pulled out his lucky wrench. Marco aimed the shotgun preparing to fire. “Yeah, survive.”

On cue and in the nick of time, another spotlight broke the smoke. The guys looked at the helicopter and were surprised to find it unmarked. And equally surprising was when gunfire rained down from it into the zombie horde. Following the gunfire came another explosion from the crowd. A rope ladder fell down and near the three remaining confused survivors. Rather than question it, Eren grabbed onto the ladder and started climbing. Marco unloaded his gun into anything nearby before dropping the gun and following Eren up the ladder. Jean pocketed his wrench trailed Marco.

“We’re all on, go!” Jean yelled. At that information, the chopper pulled up and started flying away from the smoldering base.

Jean slowly but carefully ascended the ladder until he reached the top, where Marco and Eren helped him in. To his surprise, he found General Smith smiling from a seat with the grenade launcher in his lap. In the pilot seat sat Levi, navigating them towards the wall.

“Y-you guys came back,” Jean remarked through heavy breathing.

“Yeah, we weren’t going to abandon you all,” Erwin shrugged. Everyone smiled at the pilot, who chose to ignore the glances. “He’s a lemon, but he’s a good one.”

Erwin winked at Jean and Marco who blushed and averted their gaze, confusing Eren slightly. They all stared out the door and glanced at Jinae, still smoldering in the night below.

\---

“All events you witnessed are classified, I hope you know,” Erwin informed Jean.

It had been two days since the events in Jinae made the news, and since then he and all the other survivors were held at a government facility in the capital.

“But the entire public saw it,” Jean complained.

“I’m aware. But I mean the medical program and such. The queen will make her remarks and the military will say what they’re doing about it being a terrorist attack but know that any of the medical knowledge or theories you heard cannot be repeated to the public, otherwise you’ll face prosecution.”

“That’s bullshit,” Jean scoffed.

“I agree but this goes beyond even me. I’ve already done everything in my power to help compensate you and your friends for their losses. It’s more than generous and should help you all rebuild your lives. I’d say retire like me but you’re too young for that. Invest it and spend it wisely,” Erwin advised. “With that, you’re free to go with Marco and his sister. Best of luck.”

“I’m free? And you’re retiring?” Jean raised a skeptical eyebrow.

“Retirement wasn’t my choice but my good friend told me of lovely beachfront property down south and I feel compelled to join him. Pixis has great choice in locations,” Erwin smiled coyly.

“Oh, Mr. Pixis is still alive. Tell him I’m sorry about his shop,” Jean laughed as he got to his feet.

“Oh he knows. I left your compensation with Marco as well as my contact information. Please keep in contact if you need anything. Job referrals or anything of that matter. You’ve got a good head on your shoulders.”

“Thanks, I guess.”

With those final words Jean left the interrogation room to find two soldiers waiting for him. They escorted him through the facility in silence until they reached the entrance to the secured area. From there he was left on his own until he saw Marco sitting in the waiting area of the base they were in. Marco sat with Maria in a sling in his arms. She reached towards Jean when he came into view.

“Da!” she squealed.

“What?” Jean blushed.

“She’s been excited ever since we left Jinae. I don’t know how she’ll do with the sounds of the city but I guess I’ll have to start somewhere.” Marco briefly explained happily.

“The sounds of the city? Why don’t you move out to the country?”

“As a scientist involved with the medical knowledge at the Survey Corp outpost my commission won’t be complete until the end of the year so I’ll have to remain here in Trost until our findings are recorded and saved to the archives. I’ll be free after that. Eren and Armin will be here until then as well since they have the serum floating in them.”

Jean’s face fell into a frown as Marco demeanor appeared to be depressed. “What’s wrong?”

“I… I realize we said a lot of _things_ during the events in Jinae and… and I understand if you want to walk away back into your own life after that. With all the adrenaline, danger, we got swept up by-” Marco began to sputter until Jean cut him off with a kiss.

It was a sudden but soft gesture, an easy way to mute Marco’s rambling and concerns.

“I know what we said and I stand by them. I still wanna be with you. And Maria, if you want to,” Jean reassured Marco. “Besides, I grew up here in Trost. My family probably has a lot of questions for me. Like the fact I kissed a boy on national TV.”

“Wait, you never came out to them?” That fact seemed to astonish Marco.

“Never really had the chance. But considering their political views I should be safe.”

“Well, we’ll cross that bridge together. If we can survive the zombie apocalypse I’m sure we can survive your family.”

Marco squeezed Jean’s hand, earning a return squeeze from his boyfriend.

“Let’s go get some food and clothes. These military provided ones are so itchy and I want a new jacket. And a wrench,” Jean began to complain as some sense of normalcy began to return to him.

“Of course, we can do that. With what General Smith so kindly gave us, we’ll be fine,” Marco informed Jean.

“Wait, how much?” Jean’s curiosity finally getting the best of him.

“Not gonna say. But it has enough zeroes to wipe away our student loans. I’m investing the rest of it.” Marco decided.

“B-but I wanna-”

“You’ll get your coat and wrench. We can plan the rest of this out later. Over Christmas dinner,” Marco smiled with a twinkle in his eye.

“Okay… but we’re probably gonna have to see my family at some point so be prepared for that. My mom is very overbearing but you can’t beat her cooking. And my dad, for the love of God do not engage him on sports…”

As the young couple planned their evening, Maria merely watched as she took in the sights around her before settling down in Marco’s sling. She glanced up one last time at Jean before yawning out, “Dada.”

**Author's Note:**

> For this year's Jeanmarco Gift Exchange I got the lovely [Jeanmarco-4-ever](http://Jeanmarco-4-ever.tumblr.com/%22), so remarkable fitting for the exchange. They kindly requested Jean and Marco with a smol child or them surviving the zombie apocalypse, something I requested myself last year. So I brought them together as best I could and this behemoth of a fic spawned. Sorry for any editing errors but I hope you enjoy the story! As well as happy holidays!
> 
> As always, kudos, comments, reblogs, likes, and messages on [tumblr](http://firegrilled.com/%22) are appreciated and treasured!


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